Disclosed in embodiments herein are apparatuses for cleaning and/or applying release agent to an image forming machine moving surface, such as a photoreceptor, transfer surface, etc., and more specifically a blade engagement apparatus having a blade cassette holding a plurality of blades for individual withdrawal and placement into a working position in engagement with the moving surface for cleaning and/or metering.
In electrophotographic applications such as xerography, a charge retentive moving photoreceptor belt, plate, or drum is electrostatically charged according to the image to be produced. In a digital printer, an input device such as a raster output scanner controlled by an electronic subsystem can be adapted to receive signals from a computer and to transpose these signals into suitable signals so as to record an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the document to be reproduced on the photoreceptor. In a digital copier, an input device such as a raster input scanner controlled by an electronic subsystem can be adapted to provide an electrostatic latent image to the photoreceptor. In a light lens copier, the photoreceptor may be exposed to a pattern of light or obtained from the original image to be reproduced. In each case, the resulting pattern of charged and discharged areas on the moving photoreceptor surface form an electrostatic charge pattern (an electrostatic latent image) conforming to the original image.
The electrostatic image on the moving photoreceptor may be developed by contacting it with a finely divided electrostatically attractable toner. The toner is held in position on the photoreceptor image areas by the electrostatic charge on the surface. Thus, a toner image is produced in conformity with a light image of the original. Once each toner image is transferred to a substrate, the image is affixed thereto forming a permanent record of the image to be reproduced. In the case of multicolor copiers and printers, the complexity of the image transfer process is compounded, as four or more colors of toner may be transferred to each substrate sheet. Once the single or multicolored toner is applied to the substrate, it is permanently affixed to the substrate sheet by fusing, so as to create the single or multicolor copy or print.
Following the photoreceptor to substrate toner transfer process, it is necessary to at least periodically clean the charge retentive surface of the moving photoreceptor surface. In order to obtain the highest quality copy or print image, it is generally desirable to clean the photoreceptor each time toner is transferred to the substrate. In addition to removing excess or residual toner, other particles such as paper fibers, toner additives and other impurities (hereinafter collectively referred to as “residue”) that may remain on the charged moving surface of the photoreceptor must be removed.
Solid ink jet image forming machines generally use an electronic form of an image to distribute ink melted from a solid ink stick or pellet in a manner that reproduces the electronic image. In some solid ink jet imaging systems, the electronic image may be used to control the ejection of ink directly onto a media sheet. In other solid ink jet imaging systems, the electronic image is used to eject ink onto an intermediate imaging member. A media sheet is then brought into contact with the intermediate imaging member in a nip formed between the intermediate member and a transfer roller. The heat and pressure in the nip helps transfer the ink image from the intermediate imaging member to the media sheet.
One issue arising from the transfer of an ink image from an intermediate imaging member to a media sheet is the transfer of some ink to other machine components. For example, ink may be transferred from the intermediate imaging member to a transfer roller when a media sheet is not correctly registered with the image being transferred to the media sheet. The pressure and heat in the nip may cause a portion of the ink to adhere to the transfer roller, at least temporarily. The ink on the transfer roller may eventually adhere to the back side of a subsequent media sheet. If duplex printing operations are being performed, the quality of the image on the back side is degraded by the ink that is an artifact from a previous processed image.
To address these problems, various release agent applicators have been designed, often as part of an image drum maintenance system. These release agent applicators provide a coating of a release agent, such as silicone oil, onto the intermediate imaging member moving surface to reduce the undesired build-up of ink. It is desired to control the amount of release agent applied, since using of too much release agent causes undesirable streaks, also known as oil streaks, on the output prints.
The present application provides a new and improved apparatus for cleaning and/or metering a release agent onto an image forming device moving surface which overcomes these above-described problems.